


Fight Me

by Blackparade



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Based on a Tumblr Post, F/F, F/M, He hates hospitals, His nurse is HAWT though, Imagine your OTP, M/M, Meet-Cute, Stevie is sick, so it's okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-16 07:44:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5820037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blackparade/pseuds/Blackparade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adorable disgruntled patient/ Criminally attractive nurse AU</p><p>"Fight me."</p><p>Bucky just takes one of the blankets that had slid a little too far down Steve's stomach and pulls it up to rest below his neck before turning to leave. Steve enjoys the view the whole way to the door.</p><p>"I have a few other patients to check on, so maybe later."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fight Me

"It's those damn cigarettes, Steve. You already had a bad head-cold. Now it's full on Pneumonia. You're lucky I've been stuck at this seminar all week or I'd be kicking your ass right now."

Steve knows far better than to do anything but stare guiltily back at Sam's ranting image on FaceTime, sinking further into the den of blankets and pillows he'd encased himself in with every passing second of lecture.

His best friend is so painfully true in his words, Steve could die. He had called the man knowing mournfully that he would find out sooner or later of his stay in the hospital; so on his second day there, he waited for a moment of peace to give the guy the news.

He'd been trying for eight years to kick the smoking. Even after he'd transformed his body into a literal tank, the residual effects of the cigarettes and overworking had finally caught up with him.

He knows he's in the best hands possible, and that with treatment, he'll be back on his feet in no time, it's just....

Steve hates hospitals.

Doesn't take much to see why. He was born with paper skin and glass bones, every breath he took threatening to be his last.

Far too many nights that should have been spent throwing a football around with friends or taking a cute girl (or boy, he found out fairly early) to dinner and a movie, were spent in hospital beds.

He spent far too many years shrinking away from the pitying gazes of his physicians, all of which damning him to his own personal Hell with each diagnosis.

They also remind him of his mother. The nights she'd come home in her scrubs with bags underneath her eyes as heavy as those she carried in her arms, the groceries inside hardly enough to last until her next paycheck.

And ultimately, the sound of a code blaring across the ICU as her heart stopped beating sets in stone his hatred for the establishments.

"Well, if your girlfriend is my nurse, she'll do it for you."

Even if Sharon isn't his keeper, she'll undoubtedly hear the news of his current state, and find her way to his room to lay into him just like her boyfriend is doing now.

"She's actually probably hovering around there right now. You're dumb ass went and got admitted to her ward. Nice one, Rogers."

The thought has Steve shrinking further away into the pillowy abyss, eyes scanning the hall outside his door for the fiery blonde.

"Lucky for you her shift should be ending any minute, so you'll be spared until tomorrow morning."

"I'm supposed to be released tomorrow morning, thank you very much."

Sam glares back at him, and even with a phone screen and a few hundred miles between them, Steve trembles underneath the gaze.

"And I'll be waiting with your Harley and a good punch in the head, jackass. Now get some sleep. I'll call you tomorrow, and if you do see my girlfriend, tell her not to plan anything for tomorrow night. I'm gonna take her out somewhere nice."

"Aye, aye, Samuel."

The phone goes black, and with a labored sigh, Steve rests it on the table next to the coffee that Natasha and Clint had brought him earlier.

The mention of Sam's date has Steve pouting once more, as he had actually been excited for the blind date that Nat had set him up on with one of her closest friends a few days earlier. Apparently, Maria Hill is a divine specimen, with an electric smile and personality.

(She also is a brunette, and Steve has a very special place in his heart for brunettes.)

Speaking of, his phone begins buzzing wildly on the table next to him, a slew of texts from Peggy displayed on the screen.

_"You have pneumonia!!???"_

_"The fuck, Steve!!??"_

_"You've been in the hospital since yesterday afternoon, and it took Sam calling me to find out!!!! I'm hurt, you ass!!!"_

_"Angie says to tell you you're a fuck boy for scaring her like that."_

_"Just call me when you feel better so I can yell at you properly."_

Steve stares at the device for a moment before throwing it back onto the table once more. It's not that he doesn't appreciate the concern from both his best friend and ex, but right now, as he's cooped up in the one place in this world he hates more than anything, it all just adds to his annoyance.

So, he pulls the blanket up to his nose, and shuts his eyes. He hopes that sleep will come to him soon, so he can allow the antibiotic they administered to start taking affect, that way he can leave as soon as possible.

The sound of the dry erase marker squeaking against the white board across the room floats uninvited into his ears a second later, and Steve cracks an eye open accusingly.

He's thoroughly unprepared for the sight he sees, however.

Even with the dark blue under armor (skin tight) to match the scrubs overtop, the hand of a metal prosthetic is prominent from where the sleeve is pulled up.

This detail is only dwelled upon for a few short moments, because when Steve's eyes trail upward, he feels his mouth start to water.

The guys beautifully toned body is hardly concealed beneath his scrubs. While he isn't as wide or broad as Steve, and slightly shorter, he's still incredibly well built, and when he finishes scribbling something on his clipboard and turns around to pin a small slip of paper beneath a magnet on the board, Steve almost faints at the ass threatening to burst out of the navy blue fabric covering it.

Steve snaps his eyes up before the guy turns fully, and is glad he did when his eyes land on the wonderful smile he's wearing, stubble dusting his cheeks and chin, gorgeous (brunet, dear SwEet GOd) hair tied back in a bun, one single strand framing his angelic face.

"I see you've already made yourself comfortable...."

He looks down at his clipboard before looking once again at the cocoon Steve is wrapped up in.

"....Steve. My name is Bucky, and I'll be with you tonight."

Steve could write a novel on all the ways the guy's smile makes him melt. His eyes are blue, but with hints of green and gray, and they crinkle in the corners as he stares down at him.

He's still in a sour mood, though, and this guy seems like he'd go along with Steve's moody ass. So, he muffles from underneath his fortress...

"Fight me."

Bucky raises an eyebrow down at him, but doesn't acknowledge any further than that as he continues to check Steve's chest x-rays from earlier.

"You're very lucky you had a clean bill of health leading up to this infection, Steve. Pneumonia can be lethal to a good many people."

Bucky once again smiles down at Steve, and the blond just smirks back up at him, determined to break him. If he's gotta be stuck here all night, then he is at least going to make his sexy nurse fall in love with him.

"Fight me."

Bucky just takes one of the blankets that had slid a little too far down Steve's stomach and pulls it up to rest below his neck before turning to leave. Steve enjoys the view the whole way to the door.

"I have a few other patients to check on, so maybe later."

The dopey smile doesn't leave Steve's face even after Bucky turns from him once more and leaves the room. He grabs at his phone then, and shoots a text to Natasha.

_"Tell Maria I'm awfully sorry to cancel our date, but I've met the love of my life at this hospital tonight."_

_"Is that so? You know I'm going to need a pic."_

Steve just lays back against his pillow and tries to think of a way to snap a picture of the guy without him noticing.

He also paints about a thousand different ploys in his mind to ask the guy out on a date. He could definitely use his illness as leverage. Make the guy pity him enough to go to dinner with him. Or, he could continue on the path he's on now; be an adorable little shit and win the guys heart that way. Either way, he wasn't getting discharged without a time and place to sweep this guy off his feet.

As if on cue, Bucky comes back into the room, dimming the lights and turning the volume on the TV down before turning and giving that smile that Steve has already totally fallen in love with once more.

"If you need anything, please call. Try to get some sleep."

Steve just gives him a bright smile and a thumbs up, and waits for the gorgeous man to exit again before nuzzling into his pillows and sending the stealthy picture he'd taken to Nat.

_"Oh, this is just rich."_

_"????"_

He doesn't get another response, so he heaves out a sigh before once again throwing his phone back onto the table next to his bed and letting his eyes drift shut once more.

Sleep actually does come to him for about an hour or so, and he feels as if it does a world of good. That is, until he tries to reposition himself on the bed, and immediately falls into a violent coughing fit.

His airways constrict, and it's as if he's a kid again, his asthma attacking at the worst times, always when his mother wasn't home, and he felt as if he'd never make it to his inhaler in time.

His asthma has long since stopped being a problem, but the panic has already set in, and his coughing is only getting worse.

Like an angel arriving in a halo of light, Bucky rushes in, face still beautiful even though the smile is gone as he takes his place next to Steve's bed.

"I need you to sit up for me, Steve."

With a little (a lot) of help from his nurse, Steve sits fully upright, immediately helping to open his airway. Bucky reaches across from him to the small side table and grabs the small cup of ice chips that are now just water, and very gingerly brings it to Steve's lips.

"Just take a few small sips, Stevie. Nice and slow."

He continues to sip lightly at the water, but doesn't miss the opportunity to raise a teasing eyebrow at the now blushing nurse.

"Sorry, habit of mine. I have a weird nickname, so everyone should have to."

This man is too fucking adorable for his own good.

"No problem............ Buck."

"A nickname for a nickname?"

They stare at each other challengingly for a few seconds before Bucky dips his head and blushes once more.

"I like it."

Steve smiles victoriously before sitting his cup down once more, and cradling back into his pillow fortress.

"You look ridiculous in there."

"Fight me."

Buck smiles back once more on his way out the door, brow raising before falling again in mock defeat.

"Nah, you'd totally kick my ass."

"Not what I have in mind for your ass."

"What was that?"

"Fight me."

"Yup. Got it. Call if you need anything."

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning, Bucky's shift is officially one minute from being over, and he actually is very disappointed.

Even though he's sure there's a code of ethics for something like it, he had very badly wanted to give Steve his number.

After refusing to fight the blond a good hundred times, he'd actually been able to have a nice conversation with him about their time in the army and growing up in Brooklyn.

Steve was.... sweet. He was kind. Men like that just aren't a thing in Bucky's realm of existence.

Natasha has been texting him, saying that she'll find a way to get he and Steve a date, and is just being very vague, which is never a good thing.

Somewhere down the hall, Sharon is just starting her shift, and he can hear her talking to someone on the phone, mentioning that her boyfriend Sam is there with this person's bike, and once they're fully well, she's going to kick their ass.

He reaches into his pocket for his time card, and realizes that it's sitting with his lanyard back in Steve's now vacant room.

Doubling back to the empty room and sighing once more in frustration with himself, he takes notice of sloppy handwriting on the board, and a wide grin breaks out on his face.

Scribbled in ridiculously bubbly lettering are the words 'fight me?', followed by a phone number.

Entirely too giddy, Bucky punches in the number and hits call immediately.

"Hello?"

"You ready to take me up on that offer?"

Bucky could melt at the voice on the other end, only after one night deciding it's the most beautiful thing he's ever heard.

"I don't know, I was thinking breakfast would do."

"Well, I'm waiting out front."

Bucky steps to a large floor to ceiling window facing the front entrance to the hospital, and sure enough, Steve is smiling back at him from his place on his Harley.

xxx


End file.
